NC BREATHE Conference

Clean Air Carolina’s annual NC BREATHE Conference provides an interactive forum for North Carolinians to share the latest research related to the impacts air pollution has on human health, the environment, and the economy, and to discuss the critical role policy making plays.

Air Quality Policy Changes

How will recent changes to NC air quality policies and rules impact our health?

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Air Pollution and Human Health

Find out about the latest research showing the growing health impacts of air pollution.

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The Economic Value of Clean Air

Participate in discussions about making changes that will improve not only the health of North Carolinians, but also the local economic picture.

Plenary Presentations

NEW RESEARCH IN AIR QUALITY HEALTH

An update on the most recent research on the human health effects of air pollution, including recent work by H. Kim Lyerly and Julia Kravchenko.

H. KIM LYERLY, MD
George Barth Geller Professor of Research in Cancer, Professor of Surgery and Immunology, Associate Professor of Pathology, Director of Surgical Science and Applied Therapeutics Section
Duke University

ECONOMICS OF AIR QUALITY HEALTH EFFECTS

A brief history and rationale for the U.S. EPA’s approach to analyzing the economic value of the health burdens from air pollution, and to conducting economic benefit analyses for air pollution regulations. It will provide a brief introduction to EPA’s benefits analysis software, BenMAP-CE, and provide some recent examples of analyses of air pollution health costs and estimates of economic benefits of air pollution policies. Examples of challenges in developing economic benefits estimates for emerging health concerns such as neurodevelopmental and reproductive outcomes will also be discussed.

WILDFIRES, CLIMATE CHANGE, AND HEALTH

Increasing incidence of wildfires in North Carolina is associated with climate change. The US EPA is working to study the associated health effects of wildfires and learning how to better inform the affected communities. This is being done through an app called Smoke Sense. The NC Division of Public Health has also been working on wildfire and vulnerable populations Hoke County.

WAYNE CASCIO, MD
Acting Director of the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Plenary Presentations

Perspectives on 21st Century Air Pollution Health Research Priorities

Science-based regulatory efforts over the past five decades led to tremendous progress in reducing air pollution levels and improving public health in the US. But, the emerging data from air pollution epidemiology studies suggest adverse health effects at air pollution levels below current national standards. This presentation brings to light the potential contributors and gaps in our knowledge from an historical perspective, and will focus on identifying research priorities to gain comprehensive understanding on air pollution health impacts on morbidity. How these priorities, based on integration of air pollution exposure and holistic health data (generated using diverse high throughput technologies) will aid in predicting risk and developing preventive strategies. Finally, this presentation touches upon recent efforts in addressing global air pollution health research.

Economic Consequences of Air Pollution from Electric Car Adoption

We discuss three implications of a change from gasoline to electric cars. First, electric cars may increase or decrease the damages from air pollution, depending on where they are charged. Second, electric cars tend to export pollution from one state to other nearby states. Third, households with higher incomes tend to obtain decreased damages from electric cars; this is reversed for households with lower incomes.

Energy and Our Environment: A Systems and Life Cycle Perspective

The production and use of energy touches on multiple aspects of our economy and our lives and has a diverse and complex set of impacts on our environment. There is also deep uncertainty regarding how our energy system will unfold over time. A long-range energy systems modeling approach can address some of this complexity, by modeling interactions among sectors (e.g., electric sector and transportation) and impacts across media (e.g., air versus water). Innovative approaches to modeling our energy system will be discussed, drawing from examples such as biofuel production, scenario planning, and the water-energy nexus.

Rebecca Dodder, Ph.D.

2016 NC BREATHE Conference

Bridging Research on Air Quality For the Health of Everyone

Thursday, April 8, 2016
University of North Carolina, Charlotte Center City
Charlotte, NC